1.2.2.-Sarah1281
Brick!Club 1.2.2: Prudence Counselled to Wisdom It makes me a little sad that the bishop’s book of Duties was never completed. It’s like the couch, I guess. I wonder how he was able to wander around the same town Valjean was wandering in at around the same time and never hear anything about it. It’s not surprising he didn’t happen to meet him but not hearing about it in such a tiny place? Well, he doesn’t pay attention to these things I suppose and maybe the townspeople had the sense not to gossip about it in front of the bishop. I’m glad the bishop did not make his sister wait to eat because he wanted to write. He’s not often thoughtful towards her so I like it when he does do something. I wonder how Magloire remains plump while Baptistine is slowly starving to death when they eat the exact same things and Magloire probably expends more energy through her work. From the description of the nine-year-old dress, it seems to me that Baptstine and her brother were probably much better off financially before he became the bishop and was determined to give all of his money away. He probably still gave generously as a priest but not SO generously. Or perhaps she didn’t come to live with him until he became the bishop. It’s such a strange thought that Magloire is free to be as impertinent as she wants while the bishop is silent but the moment he speaks she passively obeys. Is he even listening when he’s not speaking? Is that why it’s okay? “Poor sainted virgin!” Thank you, Hugo, for reminding us that the ancient Baptistine is still a virgin. I never tire of hearing about these things. It’s weird how he seems to pity old virgins while still revering them beyond all reason. I am definitely getting virgin fetish vibes already. I do kind of love how apparently she narrates every little detail that every happens to her despite the fact that nothing really happens so even decades later it’s easy to find people to speak about their lives. Magloire, of course, has heard all about Valjean because everyone is talking about it and you’d have to be as disinterested in such common things as the bishop to have missed it. She should have known better than to tell the bishop about it, though. I feel like he was two minutes away from setting out to hunt Valjean down and invite him to stay when there was that mysterious knock on the door. I really wonder if, had the bishop agreed, they actually could have gotten a locksmith out at that time of night to replace the locks. Plus why bother replacing them for one night? The stranger obviously was passing through and not a threat for longer than one night. But I guess it was just her bringing up the fact she doesn’t like no locks again. It’s not that I blame everyone in town for wanting nothing to do with a dangerous convict who looks terrifying and that they all fear him. It’s just that I don’t feel it is particularly intelligent of them to openly antagonize a man that they’re so afraid of. It seems like that’s the best way for them to get attacked, killed, vandalized, or even just robbed because if Valjean is going to go out and commit a crime then wouldn’t the most likely target be someone who rejected him and angered him? Only the first guy at the inn tried to get him to leave without being rude. Individuals can be kind or intelligent or whatnot but it seems that regular townspeople are just very petty, nasty, stupid, and cruel in general in the book. And it’s all society’s fault, of course, but they’re still kind of terrible people.